Dagothurmum, I'm aware that changing the sale price of crafted items relative to the sale price of raw materials would change the balance of the game. However, I would be equally happy with a reduction in the sale price of raw materials (without changing their purchase price) as I would be with an increase of sale price of crafted goods (relative to their purchase price). Since the former would make the game harder and the latter would make the game easier, surely a balance could be struck that would make gold however difficult or easy to obtain as the designer likes?
It's also interesting that you bring up that the only difference between a skilled craftsman and an unskilled one is how long an item takes to make, because this is exactly why I feel that crafted items need to make a profit in order to justify the existence of the crafting classes. Consider: if I'm only crafting items to equip my own household, then I only need to make a small number of items before I'm set for life. There are only a few people I need to equip for a few different things, and once they have their gear, it will never wear out. Whether a particular set of tools takes three turns to craft or six is unlikely to matter at all -- after acquiring the materials needed to make gear to my standards, the actual crafting is an afterthought. What crafting classes do by speeding up the crafting process is multiply the income generated by crafting.
If my blacksmith generates income by crafting steel but costs me money when he crafts a steel sword... why are people selling swords at market? How is that netting the sword vendor a profit? Do all steels swords on the market come from dungeons? Do the members of the Worker's Guild pick them off of sword bushes? If there's a government crafting subsidy reimbursing craftsmen for artificially keeping the prices of crafted goods down, where is the paperwork I can fill out to get me some of that?